Reviews for Naruto

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW I can't believe this... I really can't believe this... Naruto is a manga that has been running for 15 years, I still remember catching up with the first seasons of the anime back when I was 12, I remember skipping the dreadful filler second half from the original series and going straight to Shippuuden, I remember ALL of it and it is suddenly over. Wow... feels like an entire era ending. Anyway, Naruto was one of the first anime series I have ever watched (Dragon Ball being my first), and even though I had lost my interest and enjoyment in it for a very longtime (I dropped it REALLY early when I had just started Shippuuden, it just wasn't doing it for me anymore), I still made an attempt at catching up with the manga because people told me it was ending and I wanted to see my late childhood fall apart just like that.

As for the actual review, Naruto started out as a fairly decent shounen manga, it told the story of a ninja called Naruto that was treated like shit by everyone else in the Hidden Leaf Village because he had the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside him. At first, he's completely useless and kinda annoying, all he really did at first was yelling "I'M GONNA BECOME THE HOKAGE" like if there was no tomorrow. And for those wondering, the Hokage is the ruler of the village.

He later teams up with two other classmates alongside a more experienced ninja and form a team that does the jobs assigned to them, while at the same time, each character has its own goals and intentions. The most notable, other than Naruto, is Sasuke, an old childhood rival that had lost his family when he was younger, eventually leading to him carefully planning to take revenge on the person behind it. At first, they do some stuff as a team and it is a fairly enjoyable story that does its job in a decent manner. Nothing too special, but also something that I could watch and still get a kick out of. Yes, Naruto was a bit annoying as a character, but that didn't keep him from being likeable, and the same goes for all the other characters.... at least for a while...

Eventually, Sasuke runs away and the story goes on a timeskip, which wasn't really a good idea as the story kinda jumped the shark at that point. Filled with asspulls such as the 99 different forms of the Rasengan and the treatment given to side characters, the story past the time skip had a MAJOR drop in quality, which caused me to eventually lose my interest in the series. Not to mention the treatment they gave to Sasuke, which initially was a character full of potential, only for it to be turned into the most despicable one of the cast that SOMEHOW still does a 180 on his mood. One second he is planning to destroy the village, the other he simply agrees to help Naruto defeat the big bad because.... crap, I don't even know anymore, I really think not even Kishimoto enjoyed what he was doing anymore at that point, just dragging the story more than it needed for the hell of it.

And Naruto himself did not get any better too, he was turned into one hell of a Mary Sue that just pulled random powers out of his arse because he had to defeat the evil villain at the end of the day. For crying out loud, even the worst Fairy Tail asspull is not as big as a lot of stuff I've seen here. I don't even think this was about bloody ninjas anymore because, as far as I'm aware, ninjas wouldn't just summon meteorites in a Final Fantasy manner. Eventually, even Naruto's iconic "I'M GONNA BECOME THE HOKAGE" was toned down and that's when I realized that these characters were no longer what they used to be. What about the rest of them? Pffffft, they were thrown to the side after the so notorious timeskip, it's like they weren't even there.

Another thing I have to point out is that the story simply couldn't keep one consistent bad guy. The timeskip arrives and we are left with Sasuke running away to eventually become a bad guy, a psychotic ninja that wants to achieve immortality and a secret society dedicated to capturing the Tailed Beasts such as Naruto's Nine-Tailed Fox. Wanna guess which one was the real big baddie? NONE OF THEM! Sasuke? He becomes a good guy after a while. Orochimaru? Same thing. Pain, the leader of Akatsuki? Turns out he was a puppet after all. Tobi, the guy behind him? Same thing, a puppet as well. Madara? Not this one either. Black Zetsu, the guy that never had any spotlight? Nope, also a puppet! As it turns out (And here comes a big spoiler), the real big bad just so happened to be the entity that created the energy force they use in their battles? How, because she was somehow resurrected...

Overall, Naruto is a manga that does a fair job on the first part, but completely blows it near the end. If you wanna know if it's worth reading? Not really, unless you are planning to stop just before the timeskip begins

This review contains spoilers up to chapter 435 of the Naruto manga. Read at your own risk. Naruto is currently one of the leading titans of the anime industry, and probably the biggest thing to hit it off stateside since Dragonball Z. At first glance, you would think it is completely deserved, and rightly so. After all, this series has all the components of a major success. Nice art? Check. Interesting-looking characters? Check. Unique and clever fighting styles? Why yes. And don't forget the ninjas. After all, what's cooler than ninjas? Unfortunately, none of that means jack squat if it isn't executed correctly. This is where Narutofalls flat on its face.

The story is typical shonen fare, a young boy hated by his peers sets off to prove himself useful. I won't go into detail as to why, since MAL's Naruto page covers that quite nicely. The problem here is that said boy is set up as almost instantly unlikeable. He's a juvenile delinquent with low motivations, low intelligence, low skill and pie-in-the-sky dreams. Soon after the start of the series, he gets teamed up with Sasuke Uchiha, a mildly interesting lad with murderous feelings toward his own brother, Sakura Haruno, whose personality can best be described as "only there to be a gushing Sasuke fangirl," and Kakashi Hatake, their adult leader who is cool, lazy and just about the only interesting thing about this group.

I will admit that the first few arcs are actually kind of neat. Pretty darn enjoyable, actually. Masashi Kishimoto had talent back in those days, and it shows. the Zabuza arc, for example, is going to grab you and take you along for the ride all the way through. Most of the others after that are also kind of fun, up until after the Chuunin exams.

One of the best parts about this series early on is its wide, diverse and interesting cast of minor supporting characters. They all have their own hopes and dreams, and every single one of them has an interesting fighting style. For example, there's Rock Lee, a martial artist and the only ninja in the village who has no need for fireballs and shuriken, Neji Hyuuga, a child prodigy who aims for the weak spots, Kiba Inuzuka, who teams up with his pet dog in battle, Gaara, who controls and manipulates sand in battle, and Tenten, who....

Oh, damn. What does she do? Something to do with weapons.

Oh, well. She's basically a throwaway character. Kishimoto invented her to keep the "two guys and a girl" status quo he had going. She barely gets any screentime and says all of three or so lines in the entire series, which is a damn shame. She has a very neat character design.

Anyway, most of the side characters are fantastic, and they all get some screentime to show off their unique abilities.

Until after the Chuunin exams.

Now to be a little more fair, there is an arc right after the Chuunin exams that gets them all an excuse to play around with their powers and provides a decent amount of entertainment. Unfortunately, I have to call that the beginning of the rot anyway, because that is the point where the series takes a gigantic nosedive. And that nosedive's name is Sasuke.

Yes, Sasuke. The mildly interesting young fellow goes from being kind of cool to being an overpowered wristcutter with all the personality of a chunk of cardboard. In his quest for power, which he plans to use to murder his own sibling, he enters the tutelage of a fifty-something Michael Jackson impersonator with a bizarre snake affinity, betrays his friends, and generally acts like an utter moron. Worse yet, the story shifts its focus from a balance of all the fantastic side characters to this emo Mary Sue punk. At certain points, you might as well just call the series Sasuke. At one point, he manages to actually kill his brother, only to find out that Itachi threw the match. What's more, Itachi was dying anyway and only ever had the best intentions at heart, giving his life to protect his home. Sasuke then immediately decides to destroy said village, which makes no sense no matter how you look at it.

Compounding on that dilemma is the story's pacing, which more or less comes to a grinding halt. Fights suddenly begin to drag on chapter after chapter, villains become dull and unmotivated, and characters become dumber and dumber as the plot demands.

The most recent arc involves Naruto's final showdown with Pein, an elite warlord superninja with six individually sentient bodies and a knack for showy, destructive rampages. Though there were quite a few clever developments, such as Naruto's most recent powerups and development from whiny brat to competent, clever tactician, this arc suffers greatly from many side character-related flaws. Kishimoto has begun to kill off Naruto's mentors left and right for no apparent reason and in completely embarrassing ways. For example, Kakashi, the coolest thing this series had going for it since the Zabuza Arc, recently died of exaustion after failing to do any significant damage to one of Pein's bodies. Meanwhile, halfway across town, a young, weak Naruto wannabe named Konohamaru knocks out another of Pein's bodies in one blow. What's more, people began to acknowledge Naruto as their only chance for salvation long before he arrived at the village, despite the fact that he had previously done absolutely nothing to deserve that kind of respect. As of the current chapter, the minor characters who were once so clever, imaginative and fun to watch are basically sitting around muttering about how they'll only get in the way of this person that's fighting the ultimate enemy of their entire village, despite the fact that said person was until very recently regarded as the village idiot.

These ratings are generous due to the beginning of the series. Back then Charactes would have gotten a perfect ten. Now they barely deserve a two thanks to all the derailment. The story, once at least an eight, has now puttered down to no more than a one. The enjoyment rating is only as high as it is because this series is almost fun to read if only to laugh at Kishimoto's desperate attempts to motivate a character that's already got more than enough motivation, thanks, and to observe how very, very tired of this series he obviously is. The only reason I can fathom for him to continue is because his editor wants to milk this franchise for all it's worth, rather than risk starting over with a newer, more interesting franchise. I only continue it in the shallow hope that it may one day become half as great as it once was.

In conclusion, Naruto starts out great, but crashes like Michael Scott from The Office on sugar. It hasn't regained its boundless energy yet, and it's likely to keep sleeping for a while. There is much, much better out there, people. Please try to broaden your horizons.

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS* It's hard writing this review straight after finishing the manga but I wanted to do it when It's all fresh in my mind. Naruto is a story manga and anime fans over the world know, hate or love, It is easily the most detested manga of all time but yet one of the most popular. The story is about a young boy called Naruto Uzumaki, with his entire village despising and fearing him he is practically alone in the village and because of that he as a character values friendship more than the comman man and that leads to him going aboveand beyond to bring his best friend Sasuke back. With many arcs and a monumental timeskip Naruto is a long story and not for people who don't have any patience, the land of waves arc, the chunin exams arc, the invasion of konoha arc, the search for tsunade arc and the sasuke retrieval arc comprised was part 1 and the flow of the arcs was great, it had practically no slow points and the emotion is high.

With the land of the waves being the arc that fans usually remember as the arc that hooked them to Naruto with the crazy techiques and really showed of what a ninja is. The chunin exams is a favorite to many and is my favorite arc with crazy battles and learning about many tragic past to characters it is easily the arc that develops more characters than any. The Invasion of konoha arc is something that could of waited till a certain part in the story was concluded but as it was it was an amazing part in the manga and it did bring tears and epic fighting, still could of been handled differently. The search for Tsunade arc is simply the calm before the storm arc, Naruto gets training from Jiraiya and learns the infamous Rasengan while looking for the next Hokage, the dynamics between Naruto, Jiraiya and Tsunade is very well done and the ending of the arc is a pinnacle point in the series. The final arc of part 1 is outstanding to say the least, the battles in this arc are probably the biggest in part 1 and in the series and the final fight is full of emotion which Kishi is well at, overall the arc changed the story but opened up the story for different possibilities.

Each arc focuses on something new and trhat's what I liked about part 1 and how it was starting to build upon the ninja world. Then in part 2 the focus of the story shifted a bit from being a boy who wants to become Hokage to a boy who wants to bring his friend back before he becomes Hokage. Now the idea of that seems great but it did bring allot of complications to the story. In part 2 the arcs were structured not as well but the character dynamic was excellent but did seem more slow at times. The kazekage rescue arc was a good opening as I expected te be fair but then it went downhill with the sai and sasuke arc which is easily the worst arc in the series, the only good thing about it really was Naruto Vs Orochimaru. Moving on the Kakuzu and Hidan arc was an arc which used different characters like ino, shikamaru and Choji, the depth and the meaning of that arc was very well written. The Itachi pursuit arc is possibly the arc with the most emotion, Kishimoto sensei may of changed the story to more character focused than story building focus but that didn't change him still being able to deliver and with 3 huge deaths, 2 massive ones this arc stands out very much so. The nest arc is the Invasion of pain arc which to me is one of the best. I would prefer for certain things to of changed but as Kishimoto sensei did it, I couldn't call it bad writing. The atmosphere in this arc is very dark, it's the most suspenseful in the story so far and the fear of death looms over every character and I like it and the ending was a real changing point in the series and very much developed Naruto's character.

Moving to the more recent arcs the Five Kage summit was something that was needed, we needed for the kages to interact and to show that the shinobi world wasn't perfect and the dynamic between them all proved that the world still needed to change. Events happened in the arc which led to a big change, something that would start a beggining of a new era, overall a great arc. The confining the jinchuriki arc was an interesting one which focused on characters we don't get to see much and going more in depth with them as well as learning more about the past. The 4th shinobi world war arc was slow and the fighting wasn't that good but the ending proved it not to be the worst in the story. The ten tails revival arc was much better as we learn a truth about a certain person and the stakes really are higher, this is one of the best arcs and especially when read in a sitting instead of once a week for 3 years like some. Next is the final arc which could be seen as the best arc in the series as it focused on a select number of characters and it had very shocking moments and overall it concluded the story well and I didn't know if Kishimoto sensei could do it but he did, he concluded it perfectly.

I'll say some points about the art, characters, my enjoyment and why I gave the manga a 9/10 overall. Well the art I rate an 8/10, for a weekly manga it is rare to find one with superb art every chapter and the Naruto series has allot of great art but then it can be very shabby as well. Characters I would rate them as 9/10, in part 1 it would be 10/10 but because of shippuden and less characters got development I think a 9 is suitable becuase still characters like Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Itachi and Shikamaru etc have great development. My enjoyment wise a 10/10, no less, I love Naruto the series, It's my favorite manga and i can look pass the not so good bits because it has everything I look for in a shounen manga. Overall I give it a 9/10, in reality it's something between an 8.5-9/10 but I think I will just give it a 9 instead of an 8. The story is really an amazing jouney and I always wanted my first review to be Naruto when it finished and here it is ... the story of a boy and his dream!

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers I know there is many other people here on this site that have reviewed this Manga before, but i felt that i wanted to give my says about it since it now have ended. For 3 years ago, i didn't like Naruto at all because it was so popular and so mainstream at that time. Other reasons is bacause i was afraid of going away from my other interestes in favor for Naruto. Oh man, i was wrong xD. One day, i was sick and pretty bored, so i decided to watch an Episode of Naruto. I was pretty neutral there.Afterwards i read af few chapters of the Manga, and it got more interesting. Then i saw the battle between Naruto VS Kyubi, and that's the true beggining of my Naruto-hype xD.

Now for the Review itself.

Story - 9/10

The story builted up on a slow pace just as many other manga, but the part 2 aka Shippuden is clearly my favorite part of Naruto. All the battles, the wars and especially when the Akatsuki appears where they are after the Tailed Beasts so they could reach their goal is definitely one of my favorite part of Naruto. My top favorite part is where Madara and Hashirama meets Again, especially when Madara shouts "HASHIRAMA" like an little fangirl. I felt of my couch laughting like an insane XD.

Overall, the manga ended pretty good in my opinion, there is few things to come after that.

Art - 10/10

I think the art is amazing. I didn't really looked deeper to the quality of the artwork since i'm more into the story. But still, i like the artwork.

Characters - 10/10

There are really, really many characters introduced in Naruto, but there are some that are my top favorites.

Madara - His backstory is what is the most interesting thing about him, but i do also like his personality. He i also always first for battle xD. Madara is especially epic where he eradicates the Shinobi Allies wíth meteors and takes them out like bugs, while keeping his Poker Face xD.

Minato - His personality and his kindness to people is where he gets my thumps up. I do also like his way of fighting. Also the fact that he created the Rasengan is the reason he is one of my favorite characters from Naruto.

Tobirama - Like Madara, his backstory is what i like about him, and also because he is the man behind Rebirth Nun Jutsu. He's also a big racist against the Uchihas for many reasons, because of the first war for example.

Enjoyment - 9/10

I did enjoy Naruto from start to finish. It was a great journey xD.

Overall - 10/10

I can say i will read Naruto again some time in the future. I can definitly recommend it to anyone interested in a long manga.

Note: The 9/10 score is for Vol. 1-27 only. In my opinion, the series drops in quality by a huge amount in the last half and we'd be talking 6-7/10 if I rated Vol. 28 onwards. Naruto is difficult to rate when I love the first half so much... ---------------- Naruto is a name that brings lots of memories to the front of my mind. Many years ago, when I was 14-15 and hadn't watched anime for very long, I was told about this hugely popular title. Being new to anime at the time, discovering I had 60-80 episodes to watch before I'd catch up wasn't aworry; discovering Naruto's a lengthy story actually made me even more eager to catch up. I caught up within a week, finding myself addicted to it, the weekly episodes working as a sort of drug that kept me going until the next episode aired.

...But, sadly, nothing in life lasts forever. The Naruto anime eventually ended up becoming a joke after the first 135 episodes due to the anime evil known as 'filler'; original stories the animation studio come up with when they run out of manga material to animate. Older Naruto anime fans had to endure nearly two years of soul destroying stories, involving cooking ninja, postmen ninja and a Tony the Tiger lookalike. And when the anime finally started to follow the real plot again, a combination of budget cuts and laziness meant it just wasn't enjoyable to watch any more.

After enduring so much, I decided that reading black and white pages to finish the story would be far more enjoyable than continuing to watch the anime adaptation. From that point onwards I've followed the manga instead of the anime weekly, starting from the point where the proper anime story restarted after the two year filler hell. I didn't read the first 250 or so chapters that came before because I already knew the story and reading all those pages would've taken a long, long time.

The volumes themselves are great. For a weekly manga, the art is top class and, unlike in certain other series, it's very easy to follow the action. There are even some pages in-between the chapters used for Kishimoto's (the manga author) personal thoughts, including some interesting information such as who his favourite character is, what manga attempts he made before Naruto, how he let a plant die by doing something silly, etc. His comments are great for Naruto fans who want to know more about the man who created what they love

Naruto's a relatively simple story that steals from other famous shounen (young boy) series, namely Dragon Ball. In Naruto we, the readers, follow a young ninja called Naruto who has a big dream: he wants to become the Hokage; the champion/leader of his ninja village. This dream is not a very likely one when Naruto happens to have the lowest grade his class and be better known for being a trouble maker than being a skilled ninja.

But, unknown even to Naruto, he has something special hidden inside him that sets him apart: Kyuubi (9-tails); the most deadly creature in existence that was sealed inside his newly born body as a last resort by the previous Hokage (at the cost of his life) when the Kyuubi attacked his ninja village (Konoha). Although a law was made preventing any of the adults revealing this afterwards, the adults hated Naruto because they saw him as the Kyuubi in a human form, and their hatred of him spread to their children even without them revealing the reasoning behind their feelings. This resulted in Naruto wanting to be respected, fuelling his dream to become the Hokage.

Using that plot as its base, the story goes on from there, quickly developing by putting Naruto in a team with two other rookie ninja: Uchiha Sasuke (Naruto's skilled rival) and Sakura (the brightest girl ninja, who just so happens to have a crush on Sasuke and hates Naruto). All three are distinctive characters that keep the series interesting with their differences, the dialogue between the three never being dull.

One last plot related matter worth mentioning is the manga/anime differences...or rather, the lack of. Some filler additions and less blood/gore aside, the story you see in Vol. 1-27 (excluding Kakashi Gaiden) and EP1-135 is practically identical. There wouldn't be much point seeing both if you wanted to see changes.

Finally: My overall thoughts about Naruto...

Aside from Naruto having some of the best fights ever, what makes it stand out from the crowd is the diverse cast of likeable characters and absorbing world. All too often with stories you find yourself disconnected, not caring about the supporting cast or surrounding world very much, but Kishimoto somehow managed to create a huge amount of characters and make most enjoyable to pass time watching. The length of the story obviously helped, with Kishimoto having a lot of time to develop the cast, but it was more to do with his ability to create charming characters than anything else.

One of the accusations many throw at Naruto due to its worldwide popularity is that it's too simple. Sure, its story is simplistic and aimed at young/teenage boys, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth the time of adults when the characters receive excellent development and there are adult themes used constantly (Naruto is, after all, set in a world where ninja kill other ninjas). Lots of grown men in their 20s admit to loving Naruto, and that's because it's the sort of story everyone can enjoy. Don't make the mistake of assuming that what's aimed at young boys in Japan is what's aimed at young boys elsewhere in the world - the Japanese aren't as overly protective as people in most other countries.

...Well, I think that's about it. I hope this wall of text helps at least someone!

It's done! The end of Naruto marks the end of an 15-year period, about half of which I spent waiting for weekly updates for the manga that was my very first. Was it worth it? Maybe. I have a gut feeling that Naruto is going to be one of those manga that took great benefit from having a long-ass run time, and that a lot of the attraction towards Naruto was the fact that, well, "everyone else was reading it too." Reading Naruto was as much of a social exercise as it was a reading one, since it's mega popularity ensured that there would alwaysbe one or two people that you know that would be following it as well.

As far as the actual writing is concerned, I'd have to liken it to Harry Potter: ultimately flawed, but relatable. The themes of believing in yourself and the Power of Friendship™ have been explored numerous times before (and in a much better fashion by other manga/anime), and Naruto itself is a manga that I'm pretty sure could have been written in 200-300 chapters as opposed to the monstrous 700 that have presented over its 15 year run. Many, many, many characters are introduced, given their time in the limelight, and then thrown away because ultimately, it's all about Naruto. Kishimoto doesn't understand how to use scale to properly create climactic moments, and by the end, Naruto's supreme dominance over any of the other characters makes their attempts to seem relevant laughable and almost pitiable. The fact of the matter is, there are so many "oh, but this isn't my final form!" moments in the manga that reading the damn thing became a chore near the end due to the fact that Kishimoto isn't a very creative writer.

So why did I read all 700 chapters of what seems to be a quite mediocre effort? Well, Naruto was my first manga. Arguably, this fact combined with its existence as a social phenomenon made Naruto quite enjoyable to read (see my enjoyment score) despite its glaring flaws. It was fun to discuss the manga's weekly happenings with other people through its ups and downs--the experience was similar to that of following a sports team with other fans.

So, should you read Naruto? Probably not, unless you really, really like shounen's. It's a stunningly middle-of-the-road affair with little original thematic content that was made enjoyable to read due to the fact that it was mega-popular.

Story 4, Art 5, Character 2, Enjoyment 8, Overall: 5 (4.75).

Masashi Kishimoto is in my opinion one of the more refreshing writers on the manga scene. Though may I say at first, that yes while this is my favourite manga, and I along with many others find the story rather captivating and original in many ways (despite drawing from many common, and rather cliché themes), this manga is not necessarily for you, the reader, who is sitting comfortably at their computer screen wondering 'what good manga should I read next?' and has decided to let peoples' reviews sway them towards or away many possibly magnificent reads. That is not the purpose of this review. As afan, I'm standing here saying that this is not a manga to pass the time, this, like a good book will take time, and when you catch up to it, you'll be sitting at your desk waiting as impatiently as any fan to read the next chapter; like a hungry beast impatiently awaiting it's next meal. This is not a quick paced manga, nor is it all too slow. Kishimoto has found a rather acceptable pace, at which his story moves, but, if you are the kind of person with the attention-span of a teaspoon, this manga is not for you. Though, despite my last comment, if you are still reading this, you clearly are not; and so this manga is something you might enjoy.

The story is a classic one, of two friends, who, over time become further apart, and one betrays the other. Any more, and this would ruin the twists and turns that makes it so unique. A lot of the time you are patiently wondering, 'what will happen next?' even though you have a perfectly good idea. And this, makes the story one I would put up at the same level as any good book I have read in the past, thus the previous analogies. However, I am in no way comparing Kishimoto to Orwell, this is no Nineteen-Eighty-Four. This is not a world changing story, this is more of a Harry Potter, a famous franchise with many fans, and a fantasy world that people love to escape into. 9/10

The art work is good, but nothing original. If like me, you are reading and love Seishi Kishimoto's 666 Satan, the stylistic themes of this manga will be so similar that you will be pained at times to continue reading. Though despite this, Naruto's art work is still appealing to the eyes, and has some rather cool characters, and the fights are drawn out in such a way, that there is no challenge in following them. 7/10

The characters of this manga are what makes it so enjoyable however. Each has their own little quirks, and amusing traits. While you won't love them all, even the bit parts are more than the 2-dimensional characters you'll see in a lower caliber manga. From small characters like Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen bar, to supporting roles like Gaara and Shikamaru Nara, each character will make you desperate to see more of them. And of course, the greatest achievement of this manga is that, despite how much people hate, or love Naruto, the manga's protagonist, you will always see yourself cheering him on, and his unachievable goals and dreams, as they slowly appear more and more realistic. 10/10

Overall - 9/10

The world of Naruto is probably the most interesting aspect of the show. Despite being a show about ninja, the soldiers in this manga are really ninja in name only. They're actually much more reminiscent of modern soldiers with flashy ninja magic than mysterious, stealthy ninja. There characters are a rather nice aspect of the show. Many of them are archetypes, but I find them entertaining regardless. I also feel like the characters that are around Naruto's age (teenagers) have realistic personalities. They're teenagers, and they act like teenagers. That's one of the reasons I like them. Many would disagree with me, so it's really amatter of taste and perspective.

The action scenes are rather exciting, but there certainly is better out there. The characters have a variety of different ways in which they do battle, and some styles are very entertaining. Others seems utterly ridiculous and completely out of place in a manga that's trying to be serious.

Now, while the series certainly has it's good aspects, the overall series is something worse than the sum of its parts. In fact, while Kishimoto clearly knows what he's doing from an artistic standpoint, his lack of story-telling skills shows through. He spends far too much time putting focus on minor characters. There ends up being so little focus on Naruto himself that it's almost impossible to feel any attachment toward him. I also find him to be rather annoying, which makes it even more difficult to feel for him.

Furthermore, he only focuses on one character at a time. He seems incapable of putting the focus on a group of characters, as he should. Even when the characters are together, they only seem to speak to one another when necessary, never saying much more than what's needed. So while the characters themselves are decent, the character interactions are not very well done.

The story also seems to get side-tracked quite often. Some story arcs have very little to do with the main story at all. Now, that wouldn't be such a problem, but a few of these story arcs each span over a few volumes. A lot of the time, it feels like a waste of time.

The art is quite good, but Kishimoto actually has a tendancy to show too much detail. He shows far more than what's necessary, taking up panels, taking up pages, and slowing down the progress of the manga.

The slow progress is the final nail in the coffin. The longer the series goes, the more it's flaws stand out. The series is good, but not good enough to justify the long, tedious progression of events.

Personally, I love this series. However, I have to admit that, looking at it from a critical standpoint, most aspects of this manga are so utterly mediocre that the series ends up looking even worse than it is.

On a final note, I'd like to say that when I read the manga in graphic novel format, as opposed to the one chapter per week format it's released in Japan and on the internet, I found the series to be much more enjoyable. This makes the series far less tedious, since many events are experienced in one sitting, since an entire chapter can--and often does--revolve around one minute event. Even the English release in the American Shonen Jump, which is released monthly, four chapters are released all at once, making it a much more satisfying read.

So, I would suggest either buying the graphic novels or Shonen Jump, or just waiting for the chapters online to build up, and read them about once a month instead of reading the latest one every week. This will make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.

The story is well-written. It's not just the usual shounen manga that's filled with action nonetheless since there are tidbits of angst and drama. Though the target audience of Naruto is usually the male populace, it is not a wonder that it can also captivate the hearts of the females. Angst, drama and a little bit of romance mixed with action packed adventure is indeed wonderful. No wonder Naruto is sitting at the top spot for years now. Indeed the story is magnificent since it is unique and captivating. Plus the fact that there are a lot of mysteries waiting to be unveiled makes fansgo gaga over it. It's not a wonder how and why this manga has been sitting at the top spot for years now.

The anime is a must-watch while the manga is a must-read. Naruto is, indeed, amazing.

Here's Naruto Manga summed up short and quick, unlike what the manga is capable of. It can't finish what it's started. Story: Naruto began as an intriguing tale based off of everyone's favourite sub-culture group, ninjas. Except these ninjas had personality, and a backstory! Everything was going well, really well, I loved reading it cause every jutsu they pulled was thought out carefully, where they'd adapt what they had to suit their purposes. Battles were strategic, plot was meaningful, and most importantly, EVENTS LEAD SOMEWHERE. Now, I'm still reading this manga, so maybe there's something to it, but I've dropped it once before, and I'm getting awfully close todropping it again. I'm just in so deep now that it's tough to quit.

As I just said, Naruto started out good, but in the chapters regarding the split of naruto and naruto shippuden, well... it went downhill.

Akatsuki was a good addition, but after all the grief, all the fighting, all the backstories, you ended up not even caring. SPOILER ALERT. I mean, honestly, they end up killing off an entire village, and all the important characters, making you think the story was concluding, and then nope, actually, Naruto manages to inexplicably woo another creepy old dude to stray from his determined path, and REVIVE the WHOLE FREAKING VILLAGE. That is not appropriate plot development people! You don't start finishing the series and then just say "jk! Lulz!" That's exactly where InuYasha had it wrong. SPOILER DONE.

As the series dragged on, everything I loved about Naruto was slowly whittled away, appearances by Rock Lee and Shikamaru were lessened, each battle grew to be less about strategy and more about who had the more powerful, previously unmentioned jutsu. I kid you not, the last 4 chapters I read, all that's happened is a fight where they either summon a giant monster thing to do their fighting for them, or use a genjutsu, within a genjutsu, within a genjutsu. There's no imagination left here people. Honestly it's turned into a DBZ clone, except without the yelling, and without the aftermath actually leading somewhere.

But I suppose everyone wants a review according to all the factors.

Art:

Sometimes it's a bit over-inked and it makes it difficult to tell exactly what's going on, especially during a fight. The art style works nicely overall, but it's nothing that's about to wow you if you've read manga before.

Character:

if they had focused on the good characters, like Gai, Lee, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Gaara etc... I could give this a higher score, but Naruto took the "Goku" approach, and suddenly everything has to be done by one guy, except unlike goku, the guy doesn't even require an explanation as to why anyone more skilled than him couldn't do it. Everyone just seems to accept it.

Enjoyment:

It's hard to say, first couple hundred chapters were magnificent, 10/10. But last 100 have been shite, and it's really dragging on. I can't give it overall anything more than a 6, but understand that the last chapters have been really poor.

Overall:

A resounding MEH. I've read 477 chapters now and it's just been getting worse and worse as time goes by. If you want to get stuck in a manga where the start works it's way up to a brilliant climax, and leaves you wanting to read more, only to find out the more that you get to read is worse than the 100 episodes of filler they threw into the anime of this series, then go for it. Naruto WAS good, Naruto was great. But it's hard to stay motivated about a series as stagnant as this one. It's lost it's charm, it's only got the "I'm in this far" factor going for it now.

First thing's first, if you're not willing to read a manga that's very very long and drawn out then Naruto most likely isn't for you. When people say that it's long and drawn out, they mean it. 400+ episodes, 570+ chapters, 50+ volumes later and it's not exactly close to being finished. However, all those chapters, episodes and volumes give the creator an opportunity to further explain the plot and characters more thoroughly, which is a plus. The story: Without spoiling it too much, the story is definitely full of plot twists, some welcomed others absolutely detested, but that makes it all the more interesting. The charactersdo start to get a little repetitive, i.e. one character in the middle of the manga is a lot like one in the beginning. But it doesn't take much to get over that if you're into the story. Naruto, the main character, in my eyes is pretty static. He pretty much remains the same throughout the whole manga, other than aging 3 years; it might get a little old after a while, but there are many many other characters that are dynamic.

The art:

One word sums up the art for me. Amazing. The manga especially and some of the newer episodes. There's so much detail compared to a lot of other manga, which is awesome. :) Every once in a while, there are a few minor mistakes but those aren't noticeable unless you reread the chapter or have a magnifying glass nearby.

The Characters:

I already touched a little on the characters. There are a TON of characters, especially with the fillers in the anime. All the characters might be a little overwhelming, but you'll either forget the unimportant ones or get used to it. The plot twists occurs the most with the pasts of the main characters especially, sometimes even with supporting ones. Other than the art, the characters are probably the main attraction. They have their own personalities and traits, even if some of them are annoying. ._.

Overall:

Naruto is definitely one of my favorite Manga/Anime. I've been watching/reading it for around 7 years, so it would be hard to just drop it.

Once you get into the story, you'll understand. I will always recommend this manga/anime to anyone who is willing to try it out.

The story is outstandingly plotted. It is not very usual that the person who draws the manga is also the one to come up with the plot for it, as it is rather rare to see somebody manage to combine both drawing talent and original ideas in one. Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto manga creator, is such a shining example that something magnificent can be born when you are both gifted with drawing skills to be envyed for by many and the ability to come up with a plot and characters that have some sort of real depth and make the person who reads the storyactually stop and think about a lot of things.

Naruto is not just about fights and action and kick-ass skills (which is however a major element of the story composition and adds that exciting flavour of dynamic to the story), but also about friendship and bonds and how connections can be formed, ruined and rebuild. As if the main purpose is not to entertain, but to rather show how cruel the world can sometimes be and how you must deal with all the pain and sorrow that you face throughout your lifespan. The main character, Naruto, is always the positive factor, the symbol of hope that signals light and kindess with his arrival, the one who never loses his path. He is also gifted with a stuborness that never ceases to amaze and a burning will to never give up.

The way I see it, Naruto is the kind of person that we all should try to become - bright, positive and never doubting in ourselves and our believes.

And what of the other characters? They are simply unique, each and every one of them in their own way. The range of varying personalities is stunning and the way the story keeps almost noone neglected really makes me admire the writor's skill.

And as for the art - I have followed through the story for quite a few years now and have seen it change and somewhat mature. It has of late become more realistic and more accurate for a ninja/shonen manga. Masashi Kishimoto has undoubtetly build a style of his own that is uncomparable to anything before it and anything that is yet to come.

Overall, as I now look up to what I've written, there were only good and positive things to say about this wonderful manga which I can without any regret call a masterpiece. It cant be helped. When something is good, it is good and that's the end of it.

Let's hope we shall be enjoying this manga for many years to come. It absolutely deserves to be placed as first in all sorts of rating systems!

One of the best manga out there, and getting deserved praise and attention!!! Many people somewhat consider it overrated or point out flaws which basically, aren't flaws in my opinion, so let's get it to pieces (Review by the way follows up to chapter 571) Story (9/10) | Characters (10/10) from me: Okay naruto is a shounen manga, with basic shounen ideas, but the world naruto himself lives in, is thought out pretty well, very interesting, with it's own history and culture, political affairs etc. Naruto starts off about a seemingly annoying little brat who has this need to do bad stuff to get attention and honestly I didn'tlike him at first, but as the manga goes on, his past is explained, his courage and bravery is shown you start to fall in love with this character... Naruto is not a fairy tale (not a manga lol, just expression) either, it tells a story about a harsh, ignorant society, which hates something it created itself... it's a story about two lonely guys, who are complete opposites but become friends afterwords, only to turn into each others enemies due to many factors...

but this is not Manga just about Naruto and Sasuke, it has a lot of characters in Part I who develop and have their own stories, very interesting ones as well, so here comes the first flaw everybody is talking about - the fact that they're ignored in Part II...

now let's take One Piece for example (love that one as well for the record) when in One Piece they move from one island to another, they leave crap load of characters behind, who rarely appear afterwords, but nobody complains because it's an adventure... something like that happens in Naruto as well, you should consider that author has told everything he wanted about the characters in Part I, that's why he's not using them in Part II, but many people have hard time dealing with this... this after all, doesn't mean Naruto has no more good characters, but rather Kishimoto moves to another group of new complex and interesting characters, a group named Akatsuki and tells about them for a long time in Part II... for me these new characters are way more interesting... and some old ones are involved too, but not everyone, you could say by this point only 2 or 3 out of Konoha 11 have actual development and screen time... and just like that, when Kishimoto is done with most of the Akatsuki, he moves to another group of new characters (to other Kage's and his guardians, to their history and tales)... so story is progressing and offering many new characters, I think author is doing right not to stick with ones he introduced in first part.

Apart from characters, story is getting more and more complex, and darker as well, not many PG-13 shounen mangas, would dare to give one of the side-characters chance for revenge, which he will take without any kind of hesitation and destroy his enemy completely without "Revenge is a bad thing" type of talk (Reference to Shikamaru vs Hidan), or rarely you would see that one of the main characters (Uchiha Sasuke) which you're driven to like for first 200 chapters, turns into a villain and enemy of Naruto... in this sense Naruto is very good...

Now the reason story doesn't get 10 is because this manga had it's own downfalls, one of them being first part of ongoing war, but apparently it's getting better with every chapter!

Art (9/10)

Now one thing everybody has to give Naruto credit for, is it's art and style, everything is detailed and very believable, I love Kshimoto's drawing and the reason why it gets 9 is well because there are other mangas out there with way better art, and it's the most original one as well, good, but nothing phenomenal

Enjoyment 10/10 for me, even with it's flaws in story telling sometimes, for me - it's always about the message author is trying to give us, and it's pretty much always smart enough... I love Naruto, it has a nice balance of humor, action, smartness or philosophy in it... you can just sit and enjoy Reading/ Watching it (though if you're gonna watch, find out about fillers first, you'll need to skip all of them, their number is too damn high)

Overall, as one of my favorite manga alongside One Piece, it gets 10 from me, because even though it has flows, you can't expect it to be Perfect since it's way too big and long to not mistakes... it's about idea and interesting world, tactics and characters depth... Naruto is truly a titan in this industry and it deserves fanbase it has... :)

P.S: if you're gonna read/watch it, know, you should only if you're ready for a LONG, very LONG ride...

Naruto is finally over, its had its ups and downs, including a very long list of problems, but is it bad or good? In a sense, it's kind of both: Naruto had undoubtedly had a great influence on the manga culture, helping spread anime/manga to the west after Dragonball Z and setting up a new generation of readers. 15 years later, it finally finishes. But I've noticed one trend I wished would end already, is it bad because it's too popular? Its a shounen on shounen jump that practically uses shounen elements religiously. Being one of the "big three" its going to get flak for being"too popular" or "overhyped", but I will ignore that and look at it more objectively, or at least, as much as possible.

The Story - 5

The story, progressively, started getting worse. There was too much set up with little to forced pay off. Many plot elements got changed over time, such as Shikaku being the soul of a priest rather than the one tail, so nearing the end of the series, these inconsistencies made the story very hard to follow. The rapid change of main villains also didn't help and ruined the flow of the series. However, in certain arcs, when the pace and flow of the series really got rolling, things were good; but these moments, especially in Shippuden, were easily broken down by flashbacks and exposition periods. There may have been good moments, but the constant changing of lore and plot devices, really screwed the overarching story. Although the ending was satisfactory, to a degree.

Art- 7

The art is probably the best thing going for the series...kind of. There are some inconsistencies; a lot of times, especially late in the series, there are noticeable errors and improper face designs. But the improvement of the art style, when done right, is noteworthy, but stagnated quite a bit about half-way through Shippuden.

Characters-4

This was probably Kishimoto's weakest point, once again, especially in Shippuden. The characters were set up really well in the original series, somethng I noticed when re-reading. They all had their relationships and pasts integrated very well in to their character and the growth was apparent. But, trying to make them mature, was very hard for Kishimoto, especially female characters. Not only that, but with such great build-up, Kishimoto also wasted characters in Shippuden, to the point where no one else mattered besides Naruto and Sasuke. There are a few noteworthy characters: Jiraya, Tsunade, Itachi, Pain, Gaara, etc. but most others were just shounen tropes personified in Shippuden, even more so than in the original series. This also leads to his rushed villains problem and how the main characters change depending on which one their fighting. It's kind of disappointing, because Kishimoto is very good at setting things up but just as infamous in failing the execution.

Enjoyment-8

This is where Naruto shines the most, but only to those knowing what they're getting into. If you know this is a shounen, especially one in Weekly Shounen Jump, then you better expect friendship power-ups and believe in yourself's galore. But just because these elements have been overdone, does not immediately make them bad. You take what you get, this series wasn't fooling you, it practically advertised it. In terms of generating hype for battles, well most of them, Kishimoto is not so bad. Like I said earlier, although there are flashbacks and calm periods, when the pacing gets going, so does the hype. The one thing that many have a problem is that it changed styles and themes when transitioning to Shippuden. It went from being about ninjas to being more about Jesus saving the world things. But even that isn't too bad. They give a decent excuse for it and all things considered, a mangaka can interpret things however they please. If you don't like shounens like this, you'll probably not enjoy this series so well, but I have to say, you NEED to know what you're getting yourself into. I do not recommend it to anyone looking for something different in a shounen, such as FMA or Trigun, this is the Dragonball Z type of shounen with higher trope power levels, and this is what you should be expecting going in.

Overall - 6.5

When I first read Naruto and got to Shippuden, I actually dropped the series. I didn't give it a chance. I also kinda became a Naruto hater, mainly because I so loved One Piece. But after a friend, a Naruto-fanboy, begged me to give it a chance. I took it. Of course, throughout the experience, I noticed all the problems all the things and I constantly complained..yet I still continued to read. It was something about it that kept me hooked and I didn't know why. But one day, upon re-reading the series again, I had a realization. It was interesting. I wanted to see what Kishimoto would do, I wanted to see his silly plot changes, his uber-shounen-believe it fights, I wanted to complain about his mistakes, hating on Sakura or other characters, the world, the jutsus and different forms. It had a certain charm that made you want to criticize it, dared you to. If you've read a shounen it practically begged you to compare it. This perplexed me in such a way I didn't understand. The series is a mess, but a fun mess for any shounen reader. That is why if you read shounens, you should give Naruto a try. But if you're looking for a masterpiece or something great, look elsewhere.

SUMMARY REVIEW Story: AMAZING Art: AMAZING Character: AMAZING Enjoyment: AMAZING Overall: GOD LIKEREAL REVIEW

Story: The story is AMAZING. This is not a simple story. It does not just contain just a single element. The substance of this story is made of so much. Their is alot of Action, some Romance, lots of comedy, and so many others. The story is just an amazing work. This has to be one of the greatest stories of all time. Ever.

Their is so many stories branched out everywhere coming from so many characters. Also many of those stories link together, and create one amazing sensation when they intersect. What I love about it is that Naruto is not just about Naruto. Many of the characters have their moments in this manga. Also because this story is about ninja their is alot of secrecy, and secret plots, or decieving plots, and alot of suprises, and their are alot of introductions to new missions.

What the story is about. It is about a boy named Naruto who grows up in a ninja world, and is shunned by everyone surrounding him. Through his presseverence, and raw determination of obtaining his dream of becoming Hokage (The leader of his village), he begins to obtain the loyalties and friendships of many ninja. The proccess of Naruto growing up is not an easy task. In himself he contains a demon that was sealed into him by the previous Hokage in order to save the village. He encounters many villians, and many obstacles he must overcome, in the universe of ninja.

Art: The art is AMAZING. The art concepts in them selves are phenominal. The character design is second to none. The backrounds are contain so many different enviroments, and are masterfully done. Also the transitions are so fluid. Their is not a single moment where I had to re-look at a page to understand what is going on.

Character: The Characters are AMAZING. The amount of characters in this manga is amazing. Their are so many. And the similarities, and differences between them are so distinct. This manga contains so many personalities. It also has to what I believe the some of the best interpritations of what heros, villians, good guys, clutzes, strong women, and so many others should be. Here is a list of what they are.

Ultimate Hero: Naruto

Ultimate Bad Ass: Sasuke

Ultimate Villian: Ma?a?a

Ultimate Cool Guy: Kakashi

Ultimate Legend: Yondy

Ultimate Character Ever: Itachi

and Their are so many other ultimate characters that I left out, like Shikamaru, Jiriaya, Zabuza. The characters are just amazing

I can explain so much on how awsome each charater is made to be, and give so much detials on them, and yet be unable to answer so many questions.

This manga contains so many awsome and new inventive elements in it that diversefy it so much from other mangas, stories, anything. And it also contians other many great elements from other mangas, and stories, and everything. To me this has to be in the top 5 Ultimate Manga. One of the greatest ever.

Screw you guys im helpful

Here is my complete review of Naruto and what I feel is good an bad about the series. Plot - Naruto is the story of a boy who is the container for a demon responsible for destroying his village who is despised by most the village afterward despite the request by the Hokage who died to seal away the demon asking he be a hero. Its obvious from the beginning Naruto is a very lonely kid and acts out to get attention of any sort just to have his existence acknowledged by the villagers he deeply wishes would accept him, so in response to that hedecides to aim for Hokage and become acknowledged by everyone as a great ninja.

Theme - The show is very much themed around relationships, friends, family, and that everyone has feelings and wants to be acknowledged and respected. Its a very much similar to Dragonball in some sense which isn't a bad thing at all as in many ways its done better.

Art - I feel the art style is shonen fitting and does its duty to the manga and always displays what is really going on quite well. I have never felt something could've been better done in terms of the art. I don't feel it is nearly as busy as One Piece or as barren as Bleach. It also doesn't do much fan service which some find annoying like Fairy Tail with the anti-gravity boob women and constant almost hentai ecchi moments.

Characters - The characters are all pretty interesting and each have their quirks and things about them that make them noticeable. I feel everyone has personality and points interest. Naruto is a blast to watch grow as a character because he is in many ways the underdog story while at the same time is nostalgic to anyone who grew up with Goku. However I wouldn't call the characterization and development perfect in any way as some of the "Konoha 11" need more time in the spotlight to be called developed such as Shino an TenTen. Alot of the side characters especially are definitely characters who I feel need alot of attention an development compared to Naruto an Sasuke which are very well done. Sasuke is a character that has fans polarized on terms of love or hate. He is also the tragic character of the series and gets a good amount of focus in Part 2 and the end of Part 1. I feel his rise to villainy has been steady and well paced with a few over the top moments where its just over done. However I would say its a minor flaw in a wonderful enjoyable tale with good characters. I also feel the handling of the demon fox has been less than perfect in many cases for a show that is about friends an relationships I felt disappointed that the fox hasn't played a much bigger role. I also found the heroine Sakura to be unimportant, bland, and basically useless which I had hoped to see change at some point. However all an all I think the characterization has been done very well and continues to improve.

Enjoyment/Overall - I love the series alot and have found it to be one of the best mangas I've read. If you're looking for something shounen with a good plot. I'd say Naruto is for you, but its not perfect nor should you expect it to be. To me for a shounen manga this is a very well done one. Part 1 is very humorous an very much the start of the story while Part 2 really is more plot driven and mature without a few humorous moments thrown in now an then.

I don't know why, there's a lot who sees Naruto as a bad manga.. This is my first review as there's so many bad reviews about it.. I actually thought it's one of the best manga, in fact, I thought it's underrated.. (Review from chap 49x) - Spoiler ahead Story - It's true that Naruto has quite a "normal" plot, that's "rescue his friend" that has been overused in anime (I still find it nice though, lolx - exception for Bleach which used this twice..).. But it has maintained this ever since Sasuke was kidnapped.. What I meant was Naruto has never been out of theplot as he's been trying to bring back Sasuke to Konoha.. Yet they manage to make it interesting with sub arcs related to it.. Like beating with Sasori getting the whereabouts of Orochi.. Then learnt Futon Rasen during Hidan/Kaku's arc to beat Sasuke etc..

Art - I'm not a person who is into art or animation.. But Naruto's art is AT LEAST good, I assure..

Character - Isn't it interesting that you learn Naruto's name comes from Jiraiya's book which based on Nagato (It's like telling you Naruto isn't thaaat main character in the story)? Or maybe why Naruto is wearing orange colour shirt all this while? Isn't it cool that Itachi sacrificed so much for his brother? There's tons of character development still in the manga..

Enjoyment - Since the Hidan/Kaku's arc.. I have always thought Naruto's battle has become more interesting and strategic for JUMP style.. The battles are never boring then.. Then, Kishi even inserted some comedy or heart-warming stuff in between arcs.. It's also such a creative manga, like how the 1-9 tail beasts actually come from the 10-tailed.. It's truly an entertaining manga..

Overall - 10

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS* Okay. To start off, I've been a fan of Naruto, since I was in 5th grade. I graduated in 2013(I graduated early. I was part of the Class of 2014 group). Therefore, I've been around for most of the story, and--I can honestly say--I'm happy for it to have been a part of my life. Naruto's determination to never give up, Sasuke's determination to make things right, and Sakura's determination for love, all turned me into who I am today. I know, it sounds cheesy, but it's true. It has helped me grow as a person, and I am truly thankful forKishimoto, for drawing such a wonderful manga.

Okay, the story. It had it's ups and downs(mostly during the final Fourth Shinobi World War arc), but overall, it was enjoyable. Some plot holes exist, such as the Sage of Six Paths' brother, Hamura. The story never answered the question of what became of him, after they sealed their mother, which bothered me. Other than those, the other "plot-holes," were soon explained, and resolved. The story is also known for it's huge plot-twists, and wtf moments. Sasuke and Itachi are prime examples of that.

As for the art, it was...well...choppy at the beginning, but it slowly began to evolve, and began to look more like the anime. I love the art, and it always makes me a little jealous, since it is really hard for me to draw that well.

The characters are pretty good, though they can be annoying. Sakura(yes, I realize this will generate a lot of hate), is a prime example of that. She was useless during Part I, only being useful during the Chunin Exams' fights against the Sound ninja, and Ino. During Part II, however, she slowly began to bud into a great character, even becoming kick-ass when fighting against Sasori. She had seemingly shed her school-girl crush on Sasuke, and was able to become powerful. But, once they met Sasuke again, everything went back to normal. She was crushing on him once again, and went back to her heroine-support-role. Even after everything(I won't spoil), she still loves him. Hinata, with Naruto, as much as I like her, is another example of this.

Overall, it's pretty good. If you like long, shonen manga, I'd suggest checking it out. :) It also has a host of games for GameCube, Gameboy, DS, 3DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, and Wii, and also has a bunch of movies out. Shippuden movie 7, "The Last," is coming out this year, and is canon to the storyline.

Naruto is the best manga i have ever read. The storyline and art are both amazing! Its very different from any other manga and its definitely a manga that you can't put down. What got me hooked on to it is how traditional looking it is. In Naruto's world, everything is so surprising! Not only does it have groundbreaking action, but also comic relief from all the stress that either the characters already have or has built on them. So I think that giving Naruto a try will be worth it! :)

The story is just for some reason alot better in Manga, I dont know why but it just is...The art is just...mindblowing because you ca see every tiny last detail! The characters are...or do get very annoying and its always the same thing like mutants or something. the enjoyment is great and you never want to let go of the book you always say "One last page!" then "One more page!" You never want to stop! So overall I give this a 10 because its just an amazing Manga to read.